The Enlightened Language will be in Italics from now on.
Tam's POV
Nevaeh calmed down yesterday morning, after crying all night. Now, it was Monday and time to go to Goode High School. When I woke up, Nevaeh was sleeping peacefully. Last night, she hadn't wanted to sleep alone in case she started crying again, so we risked being caught and slept in the same bed.
"Nevaeh, Sweetheart, time for our first day at Goode." She groaned and woke up.
"Tammy, I'm scared. What if I have a spell in the middle of class?" I hugged her.
"Nevaeh, you'll be fine. You have Ro, Bo, Linh and I. Some people might not like you, which they're crazy for, but lots of people, awesome people, do. I love my wife, Linh loves her sister-in-law, Ro and Bo love their sister, your father's and mother's love their daughter, the councilors love you like a daughter, and many more people love you. Don't worry so much." I kissed her.
"I won't worry so much if you act happier." She offers. I laugh and shake my head.
"You wish." I'm teasing her because I know she loves me for who I am and it's an inside joke between us. We get up and I go to my room and get dressed. Like usual, I wear black clothes, a black t-shirt and black jeans, along with black socks and black sneakers. After I'm done, I go back to Nevaeh's room and sit on her bed. She's putting her hair up into a bun. She finishes and turns around to look at me.
"How do I look?" She wears a navy blue shirt that says 'Happy Shadow Thoughts' with blue jeans.
The tips of her hair were hanging down from the bun and were temporarily dyed black. She wore an onyx necklace and black ankle boots that had a slight heel to them.
"You look beautiful. Shall we walk downstairs?" She nods and we walk out of the room. Thankfully, nobody notices that we walked out of the same room.
"When we got downstairs, Linh was there. She wore a light blue crop top and a darker blue skirt with black tights. Nobody else was down.
We had to wait for a couple minutes before everyone else came down. When they did, they were wearing a range of outfits. Nevaeh spoke first, before anyone else could.
"Okay, line up. Shoulder to shoulder please. Ro, Bo, Tam, Linh, you all look fine. It's nice to see you Ro and Bo, wearing human clothes. Everyone else, I need to make sure your outfits are decent." Everyone does as she says and she starts with Keefe. "Fine." He walks over to the rest of us. Next is Sophie. She wore a purple shirt and blue jeans with black vans. "Good enough." I knew she didn't like the purple shirt because it reminded her of Camp Jupiter. Next was Biana who wore a short red crop top, a long pink skirt which almost hit her ankles, and white high heels.
"No. Go change into a longer crop top and jeans or a shorter skirt and tights. Or leggings." Biana pouted but went to change. Neveaeh moved onto Marella who wore a pink crop top, a white skirt that had cherry blossoms on it, which hit her knees, white tights, and pink Doc Martens.
"Cute Marella." Next was Fitz. "Fine." Then Dex. "Good." Finally, Biana came downstairs wearing a beige crop top with a high-waisted red skirt, white tights, and red high heels, which were shorter than the white heels. Ella sighed, defeated. "Good enough. We're walking though Biana. You might want to wear something better for walking." Biana huffs and walks back to her room, she comes back wearing red converse. "Alright. Let's go."
When we get to Goode High, Nevaeh lets Sophie take the lead and stays in the back with me.
"Hi Tammy." She says. "I told Sophie to go to the office. They'll call someone to give a tour to us and give us schedules."
"Okay. Hey, are you okay?"
"Yes. I'm fine. Oh, look, Sophie has found out where the office is. She does know she could've asked me, right?"
"Except you don't remember." I point out, laughing. She joins me.
"Very true Tam, very true."
Sophie leads us to the office and Nevaeh and I continue talking about random things like human music. I know she isn't fine right now but that she's dealing with it.
"Excuse me, we're new here and we would like our schedules. Also, someone to show us around would be great." The lady doesn't even look up, she just keeps typing on her computer.
"Of course. I just need your names." She says.
"Okay, everyone say your names. I'll start. My name is Sophie Foster." The lady typed something.
"Keefe Sencen."
"How do you spell that?"
"K-e-e-f-e space S-e-n-c-e-n, Keefe Sencen."
"Biana Vacker."
"How do you spell that?"
"B-i-a-n-a space V-a-c-k-e-r, Biana Vacker."
"Fitzroy Vacker, I prefer to be called Fitz though."
"How do you spell your first name?"
"F-i-t-z-r-o-y, Fitzroy."
"Marella Redek, M-a-r-e-l-l-a space R-e-d-e-k."
"Thank you dear."
"Sure."
"Dexter Dizznee."
"How do you spell that?"
"D-e-x-t-e-r space D-i-z-z-n-e-e, Dexter Dizznee."
"Linh Song. L-i-n-h space S-o-n-g."
"Interesting name."
"Tam." Nevaeh nudges me. "What?"
"She needs your last name Tam." She hisses.
"Oh. Tam Song." Nevaeh nudges me again. "What now?"
"Spell it." I sigh.
"T-a-m space S-o-n-g. Did I get it right this time?" I aim the question at Nevaeh who rolls her eyes but nods. I smile.
"Nevaeh S-W-V-uggh, which one do I do?" The desk lady looks up.
"Oh! Nevaeh, great to have you back!" She says cheerfully. "Do you have a different last name?"
"Try my old one. If that doesn't work then try Vacker." She tries both but frowns. "Those aren't working." Nevaeh sighs, frustrated.
"Give me the keyboard. I'll type in the next one." She walks around behind the desk and snags the keyboard. Then, quickly, she types in a last name, which still doesn't work. "This is frustrating. I wonder…" Then, quickly, she types in one that I catch but no one else does. 'Olympia.' It works. "Of course that one works. Because the Councilors had to put that one in. Can you change it to 'Vacker' please? As much as I hate them, it's the only last name that is viable and people won't recognize me." The desk lady nods. "Thanks Ms. Penelope."
"Sure. Next?" Nevaeh walks back over to Linh and I.
"Ro." Nevaeh clears her throat and says:
"Full name Ro."
"Fine. Romhilda."
"No last name?"
"None."
"Okay, how is it spelled?"
"R-o-m-h-i-l-d-a."
"Okay. R-o-m-h-i-l-d-a." Ms. Penelope mutters under her breath. "Next?"
"Botros. B-o-t-r-o-s."
"Okay, thank you. I will go call somebody to guide you now. But first, here's your schedules." She handed Nevaeh, who was closest to her, some paper.
"Okay. I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone that I'm here."
"Of course." Ms. Penelope got up and walked into another room. Suddenly, I hear: "Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase, please report to the office immediately." Everyone except Sophie and Nevaeh jumped. Nevaeh just looked at me, scared. Oh no, those were some of the people that Nevaeh didn't want to talk to. I walk closer to her.
"Remember what I said this morning." I whisper. Ms. Penelope comes back in.
"They should be here any momen-" She's cut off by two people coming in.
"Ms. Penelope, what do you need?" The girl, Annabeth I assume, asks.
"Annabeth, Percy, could you show these new kids around?"
"Sure Ms. Penelope." The boy, Percy, says. "Hi, I'm Percy and you are…"
Nevaeh's POV
I was sad, he didn't even recognize me. I don't say anything, even when everyone looks at me to introduce myself first. I just look around the office, finding hidden cameras and microphones in a couple places and looking at all the exits. Someone taps me on the shoulder and I turn the opposite way, thinking someone's trying to trick me. Sure enough, Linh is right there, pouting.
"Darn it. It didn't work." She says.
"Well, it got her attention real quick." Percy says, laughing. I scowl at the ground. "So, what are your names?" I feel everyone look at me again. I don't answer, instead, I continue scowling at the ground. "Hello?" Fingers snap underneath my face, it's Percy.
"I wouldn't do th-" Fitz warns. He's too late. Before Percy can retract his hand, I grab it and start to squeeze. Tam stops me with a hand on my shoulder.
"Hey, Nevaeh, stop. You're revealing yourself." He whispers. I let go of the hand before looking at Percy and glaring.
"Be nice El." Linh scolds, seeing my glare. I look at her blankly.
"Linh, do you realize who these people are? You know, Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase?" I whisper into her ear. She looks at them with recognition in her eyes and turns to me. "Yeah, I think I'll act how I want around them." She nods, accepting what I said.
"Is someone going to answer Percy's question?" Annabeth asks. I sigh.
"Guys, I ain't answering for you. Answer for yourselves. Names and ages are probably a good idea. Okay?" I tell the elves in the room. They nod and Sophie starts. I go back to glaring at the ground.
"Sophie Foster, 15."
"Keefe Sencen, 16."
"Fitz Vacker, 17."
"Biana Vacker, 15."
"Dex Dizznee, 15."
"Marella Redek, 15."
"Linh Song, 16." Linh didn't sound as cheery as a few minutes ago.
"Tam Song, 16." Tam grumbles.
"Romhilda, 18. Call me that though and you're dead. You can call me 'Ro'."
"Botros, 18. You can call me 'Bo'. I don't really like the name 'Botros'."
"Your names rhyme." Percy points out. They glare at him and he shrinks back. "Sorry." Then he points at me. "What about her? What's her name?" Tam nudges me and I look at him.
"What?"
"You're speaking in the Enlightened Language." I snort.
"No, really? I didn't know. So are you by the way. Why'd you nudge me?"
"Are you going to introduce yourself or do we have to introduce you?" I sigh.
"Fine. I'm 16 and my name doesn't matter. Also, pointing is rude." I grumble, looking at the two demigods. "Can we get going before we're late to class?"
"Sorry about her, she's… grumpy this morning." Tam says, looking at me.
"Grumpy? That's what you came up with? How about this: 'sorry about her, she hates you.'" The elves look at me curiously. "What do you mean 'hates'?" Biana asks. I glare at her.
"New rule." I say. "If a conversation is being held in the Enlightened Language and you have a question about it, ask it in the Enlightened Language. Or just don't eavesdrop on conversations that don't concern you. Anyway, it doesn't matter, Biana Amberly. Just let it go." Biana nods. "Thank you. Oh, and Tam, it's Monday, nobody likes Mondays. Of course I'm grumpy. Where are our lockers?"
"What language are you speaking? I've never heard it be spoken before." Annabeth asks.
"It's an ancient language." I say. "Called 'nun ya' and before you ask, it was spoken by the 'beeswax' people, got it?" Percy laughs and so do the elves. Annabeth just smiles.
"Yup. Sorry I asked. Now, come on, it looks like your lockers are near ours and our friends."
"Oh. Fun." I say sarcastically. Biana glares at me but Percy and Annabeth smile.
"Nevaeh, be nice." Biana scolds.
"I think you and I are going to be good friends." Percy says. I just look at him blankly and shake my head. "What? It's true. I am a very sassy person."
"Yeah, we called you Persassy." I mutter, purposely speaking in Enlightened English. Tam hears me and snorts. I look at him. He raises his eyebrow and gives me a 'really' stare, I nod and he snorts again. "Can we go to our lockers now?"
"Sure." Percy says. "Our friends should be there, hope you don't mind." Oh gods, there's more of them? The gods must really hate me. Percy looks at me. "Hey, you good?" I scowl at him. "I'll take that as a yes." I don't answer, just storm away after looking at my locker number. I knew where it was seeing as I had the same one when I used to go to Goode. "Hey, do you know where you're going?" I just flipped him off over my shoulder. I don't cuss a lot, or use the finger much, only if I'm super mad or super annoyed. I was super annoyed with Percy and Annabeth right then. "Did you see that? I think she just flipped me off!" Tam laughed.
"You must've either really annoyed her or made her supper mad." Linh said. "Otherwise, she doesn't cuss."
"Oh. Whoops. That was not my intention." Percy responded. "Does she know where she's going?" I turn around and look at the elves, sighing. Of course, I forget where it is and even if I did, I'd have to act like I don't know where it is if I remember where it is.
"I have ears, you know. Nope." He smiles triumphantly and I scowl.
Percy's POV
That girl was weird. She reminded me of someone I once knew. She seemed scared too and kept giving Tim, no Tam, glances. When we got to the rest of the group, they looked at the new people curiously. Our group was: Jason, Piper, Hazel, Frank, Calypso, Leo, Katie, Travis, Connor, Will, Nico, Thalia and - of course - Annabeth and me. The new people were interesting. They all had blue eyes, except for… what was her name?… was it Sophie?… who had brown eyes. The blue was all sorts of shades, from teal to silver-blue. They all had accents that I didn't recognize and all looked like models.
"Hey guys. These are the new people. Umm… you're going to have to introduce yourselves, I'm not the best with names." I say, rubbing the back of my neck. The girl sighs when they look at her and says something to them, sharply, she pairs it with a glare that reminds me of Nico's glare but also of Thalia's glare.
"Sophie Foster, 15." She's the only one with brown eyes. The rest of them have some variation of blue eyes. Except Ro and Bo. They have black eyes. I only remembered their names because they rhymed.
"Keefe Sencen, 16." He has an arm around Sophie's waist.
"Fitz Vacker, 17." He had very teal eyes.
"Biana Vacker, 15." She had the same eyes and last name as Fitz. They must be siblings.
"Dex Dizznee, 15." He has bright blue eyes.
"Marella Redek, 15." She has ice blue eyes like Keefe and looks the same except I can tell they aren't related.
"Linh Song, 16." She has silver-blue eyes that at first glance, you can't even tell they're blue.
"Tam Song, 16." Tam grumbles. He's probably her twin, seeing as they have the same last name, the same eyes, and are the same age.
"Romhilda, 18. Call me that though and you're dead. You can call me 'Ro'." She has two pigtails and her hair is bright purple and bright pink. She also has a tattoo on the top of her head.
"Botros, 18. You can call me 'Bo'. I don't really like the name 'Botros'." He seems to not like anything and has a matching tattoo with Ro. The girl doesn't say anything, just scowls. Bo looks at her and his face seems to soften. He says something in that language they speak and she responds. It sounds like gibberish but apparently, they understand it. Bo and the girl have a staring contest and it seems like the girl lost because she sighs.
"Fine. I'm 16 and my name is not your business." She has a lighter shade of teal for her eyes but you can tell she's related to Fitz and Biana, except for the fact that she had blonde hair with black tips. She wore a shirt that said 'Happy Shadow Thoughts' - at least, I think that's what it says. What does that mean? Is it an inside joke? - and skinny jeans. Along with black ankle boots. She was pretty but, in my opinion, Annabeth was prettier. She seemed like the type of person that you didn't want to mess with or anger her but she didn't seem to like us or some of the people in her group. I wonder why.
"What should we call you then?" Jason asks. She shrugs.
"How about 'Blondie'?" Ro suggests. Then frowns. "No, that's Sophie's nickname. 'Princess'?" The girl laughs but it sounds strained. "What is so funny? It's true and you know it." Leo looks at the girl.
"You're a princess?" He asks, confused. She glares at him and he hides behind Calypso.
"Technically, yes, I am but in the Forbidden Cities, no I'm not but for now, it doesn't matter. What're your names?"
"I'm Piper. That's my boyfriend, Jason. Those two are Hazel and Frank. They're dating. Leo and Calypso are also dating. Katie and Travis are finally dating. Connor is single, so is Thalia, she doesn't like many boys. Nico and Will are also dating, to the relief of many people." Piper introduces. I give her a grateful look. "You seem to already know Percy and Annabeth."
"And dinosaurs have feathers." Keefe agrees. He seems to be the jokester of the group. Sophie lightly hits him before muttering something I don't catch but I can tell it's in their language.
"You remind me of someone." Thalia says, looking at the girl. "A girl, from about 5 years ago, her name was Nevaeh." I look at Thalia. Really? That story, right now? She knew we all felt guilty about what had happened. "She was fierce and if you wanted to keep your eardrums un-blown up, you didn't want to anger her, or mess with her. But Percy, Annabeth, Piper, Jason, Leo, Katie, Travis, Connor, Will, and a few other people broke her trust in the worst way possible. She left and we never saw her again." Oh, she didn't tell the whole story. I guess it made sense, they were mortals.
"Huh, I have never met anyone who sounds like her in my life." She wasn't lying, she just wasn't telling the full truth. I could tell because after the Giant War, I had learned to tell if people were lying or not.
"Hey," Will said, breaking the tension. "Are any of you not dyslexic? We all are and so we can't read our schedules."
"What's dyslexic mean?" Fitz asked, looking at Sophie. The girl answered before Sophie could.
"Well Fitzroy, being dyslexic, or having dyslexia, means that it's hard to read for those people. Basically, the words seem like they're floating off the page. It's annoying. People are born with it."
"Oh, thanks." He answered, looking surprised. "I can read your schedules." None of us demigods answered because we were all laughing.
"Did… she… just… call… you… 'Fitzroy'?" Leo asks between giggles.
"Yeah, it's my name but everyone except Nevaeh calls me 'Fitz', it's the name I prefer. For some reason, Nevaeh likes to call me 'Fitzroy'. No clue why." Did he say 'Nevaeh'? Is that the girl's name?
"Who's Nevaeh?" Annabeth asks.
"Fitzroy Avery Vacker! Come on!" She continues scolding him in their language and every once in a while, he would wince.
Nevaeh's POV
Of course it was Fitz who said my name. Of course. So, I scold him. It serves him right.
"Fitzroy Avery Vacker! Come on! If I hadn't said my name yet, why did you? Did you even stop and think about why I haven't told them my name yet? What is wrong with you? Did you even hear what Thalia said? Her name was Nevaeh. What if they think that I'm that Nevaeh. I'm not! Wait, why am I asking that? I know the answer, you don't have a clue what she said because you were too busy staring off into space or peering into Sophie's mind. What the Hades?! When we get to the Penthouse, I am going to lock you in a room, take away any light leaping tools or anything to help you get out and you are doing all of your homework. Until you finish all of it and I check it and make sure it's right, you are not leaving that room. Unless to use the restroom. But, even then, I'm having someone escort you to and from there." By now, the demigods are staring at me, knowing I'm threatening him. "I will not be light on your punishment after that. Because as soon as we get home, I'm telling the Council to put you on poop duty at the Sanctuary, you'll be scooping Kelpie poop all day every day for the next week! And I won't be sorry!"
"Nevaeh! Look, I'm sorry, okay, I was just answering his question! I didn't mean to tell them your name, it just slipped. It was going to slip in one of the classes anyway so you can't be too mad at me." I just glare at him.
"Whatever. I'm still doing what I said I was. All of our schedules are basically the same. The first class has the letters g-h-s-capital E-i-l-n, what does that spell? I'm sorta dyslexic. English is harder for me to read than other people but not as hard as totally dyslexic people."
"That's it Nevaeh! It's English." Sophie says.
"Great and it's with… Mr. … Blowfish?" I'm confused. "Did I read that right?" Keefe laughs and shakes his head. I look at everyone else and they're all laughing too. "What?" I look at Ro. "Did I do something wrong?" She shakes her head.
"Nah. It's just that it's 'Blofis' not 'blowfish'." Oh, Percy's step-father. Great. As we walk to English, I drift over to Bo, who sees me coming and smiles.
"Hey." He says.
"Hi."
"You good? Am I going to have to call your father?" I laugh.
"No, I'm fine. Just nervous that one of them will recognize you?" Keefe walks over and asks:
"Recognize you?" I can't lie to him, he'll just sense it. I'll go with a half truth instead.
"You can't tell anyone. I used to go to school here and I got in an argument with some other kids. They were bullying a younger kid, the sister of someone I knew when I was younger. I stood up for her. A week after standing up for the kid, I left the school because Fitzroy told me I was an elf." It was the truth but not the full truth.
"So you used to live here?"
"Yeah."
"Nice." He drifted away and I sighed with relief.
Percy's POV
The girl, Nevaeh, was talking in that weird language again. She seemed to be saying something personal because she had an urgent tone and her voice was low. After a bit, she stopped talking and the boy, Keefe, asked a question. She replied and he said something before walking over to the person who seemed to be their leader, Sophie.
When we get to my step-father, Paul Blofis', classroom, we're a few minutes late.
"Percy, Annabeth, Hazel, Frank, Calypso, Leo, Travis, Katie, Connor, Thalia, Nico, Will, Jason and Piper. How kind of you to join us. You better have a good reason as to why you're late."
"Sorry Mr. Blofis. We were asked to show to the new kids around." Annabeth says.
"Okay. That's a valid reason. Go sit in your seats. New kids, come in and introduce yourselves. Names, and ages please, along with a fact about yourself." Nevaeh starts. She isn't glowering anymore, instead, she has an emotionless mask on along with a face that sorta said 'no funny business'.
"I'm Nevaeh Vacker, 16. I have three full-blooded siblings that share a last name with me, I also have two siblings from my adopted family."
"Fitz Vacker, 17. I have never had ice cream but I really enjoy gelato." A lot of people, including myself, frown at his fact. How has he never had ice cream?!
"I'm Biana Vacker, 14. I've skipped three grades, and sparkles make everything better." I laugh and a lot of people join me.
"I'm Ro." Nevaeh elbows her. "You know, that actually hurt. My name is actually Romhilda but I prefer Ro. I'm 18 and Nevaeh is my adoptive sister."
"I'm Botros, call me Bo. I'm 18 and Nevaeh is my adoptive sister."
"I'm Tam, 16. I don't use my last name."
"I'm Linh Song, 16. My twin brother is Tam."
"I'm Keefe Sencen, 16. I love pranking and totally did not break into-" Sophie cuts him off.
"Ignore him. I'm Sophie Foster, 15. I am adopted and still don't know my biological father. I do know my biological mother but will tell no one, so don't ask."
"I'm Marella Redek, 14. I don't respond to nicknames and love to play with fire. Some could say I'm a pyrokinetic." The new kids all snort, except Nevaeh, who remains a blank and 'no funny business' face and Tam, who just rolls his eyes and hisses something in their language that causes Linh to smack him and Nevaeh to roll her eyes and a glimmer of amusement appears on her face.
"I'm Dex Dizznee. I have three younger siblings, they're triplets, but our father named us so our names rhymed. Be glad they aren't here, they are little menaces. I'm 14." The rest of the class introduces themselves.
*Timeskip to after the class*
Sophie's POV
The rest of the class was boring. We just went over rules and regulations, along with homeworks and books that we might read. We also talked about what books had been read over the summer. I had earpods in because I couldn't spare energy to block out the humans. It was quite annoying. Everyone's minds, except the elves, were going crazy. Next class I might have to block out the human's minds.
We got homework for the class. We had to memorize a poem and be ready to recite it tomorrow.
A/N: That was a really long chapter, longer than I expected. Sorry about that.